BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) – Two new candidates have entered the fray to become Louisiana’s new Treasurer. One familiar name looks to make a political comeback and a newcomer wants to make big changes.
The Treasurer of Louisiana handles the state’s investments and acts as the central bank that makes sure the state is able to pay its debts. They are also tasked with educating residents on unclaimed property.
New to the race is Dustin Granger, a financial advisor from Lake Charles. He has been a financial advisor and investment manager for nearly 20 years. The Democrat wants to make changes by eliminating the ban on ESG investing.
“I think we shouldn’t have any bank bans with our financing because it’s costing us millions,” Granger said.
Environmental, Social and Governmental investing is when a company will prioritize investments into renewable energy or certain social policies. Treasurer John Schroder pulled $794 million of the state’s investments out of BlackRock Inc. for their push for ESG.
“I think it only hurts us because by banning ESG investments in clean energy investment, we’re missing out on a lot of opportunities for emerging industries to diversify our investments in our economy,” Granger said.
Former north Louisiana congressman John Fleming has a different idea. The conservative Republican announced he is running for Treasurer and believes the banks invested in ESG could hurt the oil and gas industry and should be considered when it comes to investments.
“There’s going to be added pressure, additional and impending pressure on the Treasurer to invest money into left-wing boondoggles where the return is going to be very poor,” Fleming said.
Fleming, a physician and businessman, served as the U.S. Representative for District 4 from 2009-2017. After he left Congress he was appointed by the Trump administration as the assistant secretary of Commerce for Economic Development in 2019 and also served as assistant to the President for Planning and Implementation.
The Treasurer is the head of the State Bond Commission that gives approval for parishes, cities and taxing districts to take on debt or levy taxes for projects. Recently politics have taken center stage and caused the commission to hold up some projects. A New Orleans ordinance stated the city would not enforce the criminal charges from the abortion ban law. Members of the Bond Commission wanted to hold back approval for a water and sewer project until it was rescinded. Ultimately, the project was allowed to move forward.
“The Bond Commission is no place to find out a lot of the culture war issues,” Granger said.
Fleming said he would work with the board to make the best decisions for each project.
“I would not have the authority, nor would I step on the authority of others to block or promote any certain political stance,” Fleming said.
The Treasurer can decide how outspoken they want to be on the state’s economic policies. John Kennedy was no stranger to making public comments on the governor’s budget plans. John Schroder has taken a quieter approach.
Granger said he wants to work with the governor and legislature on tax policies.
“Some things that are worrying to me as I feel like our state is going all in on trickle-down economics,” Granger said. “Now we’re seeing a possible elimination of the state income tax, which means to fill that gap, they’re going to try to take people’s homestead exemption away and raise sales taxes. That’s not what we need right now.”
Fleming said he would be very outspoken about his thoughts and concerns on policies.
“What I want to do is work with the leadership team in this state beginning in 2024 to reform our tax laws, our regulations, and the way we do business in Louisiana,” Fleming said.
The two join state Rep. Scott McKnight in the race. McKnight, a Republican, was the first to announce a run for Treasurer in late 2022.
Election day is Oct. 14.
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